Bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny on Boris Godunov

Tomasz Konieczny’s first professional experience of the opera Boris Godunov was when he performed the role of Pimen as a young singer with the Nationaltheater Mannheim company. “Before that, I’d listened to Boris Godunov regularly because it is seen in Poland as one of the most important operas. As a young boy, I had dreamed of singing this amazing role one day. It’s always been one of the three Russian roles I definitely wanted to sing, the other two being Prince Igor in Borodin’s opera and Rachmaninoff’s Aleko.”

Russian opera has become a somewhat charged topic for many people. How do you deal with that as a musician?
“In Poland especially, there is a kind of unofficial ban on Russian music at the moment. I am trying to change that as I don’t think it’s right. I recently gave a recital of Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death, combining them with romances by Mykola Lysenko, the founding father of Ukrainian opera and composer of some wonderful Romantic music. That created a fantastic context and interplay between the works. Even I had goosebumps by the end of the last song.”

What is it like to now be singing the iconic title role in what many people see as the archetypal Russian opera?
“I constantly get goosebumps again when working on Boris and singing the part, given the context of the continuing war in Ukraine and the current state of the world. The composition is incredibly powerful, especially in combination with Pushkin’s marvellous text and with the realisation that history is more or less repeating itself. It’s as if Pushkin was describing what is going on today, as if he had a vision of these events in the world. That makes the opera even more special.”

What role does language play in Boris Godunov? After all, this is one of the first operas where a composer set a prose text to music.
“The text, the language itself, is wonderful and is surprisingly well suited to singing, despite the many diphthongs. I always like to work with repetiteurs who have completely mastered the language. For Boris, I spent a lot of time practising with the amazingly talented Ukrainian pianist Taras Hlushko. He is really a Puccini specialist, but he has given me a real feel for the language in the opera. It helps that in his madness, Boris repeats the same texts a lot. It’s as if he is constantly repeating the same story.”

Mussorgsky is known for his idiosyncrasy as a composer. How is that reflected in this opera?
“The music has always felt very natural to me, but now that I’m working on the role more intensively, I am becoming aware of how incredibly modern it is, as if Mussorgsky was composing music from a distant future. His harmonies are exceptional — very different to the Italian tradition, for example. The Russians had always been progressive in that respect and Mussorgsky seems to go even further in that direction. Another striking feature is the way he incorporates the Orthodox choral singing to create an unusual layer of sound in combination with the instrumentation. The opera also stands out in how closely the music is linked to the words, the language. I really like that. It’s also the reason why I love Wagner so much: he does the same in his operas with librettos he wrote himself.”

Tomasz Konieczny

‘It is as if Mussorgsky was composing music from a distant future’

How does Mussorgsky flesh out Boris Godunov? What makes this role so special?
“Boris is a very complex character who can be interpreted in many different ways. You sense he feels called upon somehow, that he feels a responsibility for the country. But he came to the throne perhaps illegally, and certainly not in the traditional way, and that makes him insecure.”

“There is also his mysterious inner world and the demons haunting him. I am particularly touched by the warmth and affection he feels for his children. Perhaps that is fuelled in part by his conscience and the fact that the former tsarevich, little Dimitri, has died. It is never said explicitly that Boris had him murdered, but Boris’s sense of guilt constantly resurfaces. I get the impression he doesn’t enjoy the task of ruling the country at all with all the political intrigues, and he finds far more happiness in his private life. In that regard, it’s certainly not a straightforward story. I see more questions in Boris Godunov than answers.”

Boris Godunov is about the tragic downfall of a troubled individual, but the opera positions him within a system. How should we see that?
“Of course, the opera is highly political. Boris may be a family man, but he is also a dictator in a certain sense, someone who decides whether others live or die. It is probably less so in the Netherlands, but we Eastern Europeans are all too familiar with the status a particular position or office gives someone. It turns them into a different person and can exempt them from the rules that apply to everyone else.”

“In those days, the Russian tsars were like gods, unapproachable and remote from the ordinary people. Mussorgsky has an interesting take on this because he shows that Boris, and later Dimitri too, come from the people in a way as well. Which is what makes them vulnerable.”

What do you see as the opera’s central message? 
“Arrogance is always punished and you pay a price if you try to raise yourself above others. In this opera, Boris pays an incredibly sad price. I think Mussorgsky wanted to show the world how a dictator meets his end.”

And yet the opera finishes with the following claimant to the throne waiting in the wings while a holy madman laments the piteous fate of Russia.
“Of course that fatalism is typically Russian. But we should not have any illusions. Once Putin is no longer in charge, someone else will take over who wants to seize yet more land and become even more powerful. This unbridled arrogance and thirst for power is shocking: a human life means nothing to people like that. At least Boris is someone who wrestles with his conscience and can’t find a way out. I see that as an important distinction: Boris suffers for his deeds. He wants an end to the awful delusions he is suffering and his gnawing conscience. I can well imagine he is exhausted from the never-ending suffering and he sees death as a kind of redemption, even though he really wants to carry on living. That lets us see him as a fellow human being and feel compassion for him.”

Dutch text: Benjamin Rous

Boris Godunov will run from 10 to 29 June 2025 at Dutch National Opera & Ballet.